Author's Note
THIS JUMPS AROUND QUITE A BIT. They are to-be used scenes. I just need to know what you think!!
PROLOUGE
A FAMILY AFFAIR
HOUSE PARADISE? Or Golden?
The Ancients; (after the first dragon attack)
~Icarus Crest Nightshade
His mate
~Moon-Shine Meadow Nightshade
((Presumed generations off family until Present))
Present (time the story take pace)
~Pepper Thorn Nightshade
His mate.
~Lilac Cloven Pepper Nightshade*
His children
~Daisy Cloven Pepper Nightshade**
~Snake Bite Thorn Pepper Nightshade
*Females that are mated full names consist of their first, middle, maiden last name and then mate’s middle name, and family last name
** Children take on their given first name, mother’s/father’s maiden middle name, mother’s maiden last name and then family last name
((Ok, I’m gonna try to make this as simple as possible. Try to keep up!!))
THE CURSE
During the first dragon attack, villages and smaller families were attacked, the Nightshade family being one of these.
The Nightshades had always been a mysterious herd, more or less a part of the Golden House, though where their loyalties were remained within themselves, and to each other. They lived part-time in the castle, if occasions had it, being Icarus was part of the Guard, and preferred his family live apart from all the royalty, so they established a small farm land just outside the castle walls.
They were attacked by what they (presumed) were a flock of gryphons, their land set on fire and devastated. Icarus’ mate Moon Shine was taken away during the chaos and viciously raped.
Sometime during the attack Icarus was able to save his mate, killing off the flock leader of the attack. Enraged, the gryphons took revenge cursed them over Moon Shine’s raped body, in some language they didn’t understand (and has yet to be established). It was then that it was seen that they were not in fact gryphons, but changelings disguised as gryphons.
Moon Shine survived, and was able to warn her children, who over generations would tell the story down as just a tale.
However generations the Nightshade herd would start to evolve, as the curse changed them slowly into unicorns, Pegasus, and alicorn, skipping some generations, until the present Nightshade family.
PRESENT NIGHTSHADES
Lilac, who is the next carrier of the said evolution and curse, is a plain unicorn in appearance, but much too powerful than normal unicorns. Mated to normal pony of the guard or something for Rarity’s family, they live in the castle grounds on a farm.
After a few years of concealing Lilac’s odd powers, like being able to tell when someone is about to die, and more, they birth Daisy, an alicorn…
As Daisy is raised, Lilac does extensive research on how the heck this is possible. She comes across an ancient diary of the original Moon Shine and how she re-accounts the curse. Fearing for her daughter, she keeps her a secret, not necessarily teaching Daisy magic, because she fears that the magic will trigger the curse, which she thinks is the reason why Daisy is an alicorn.
Anyways, Daisy is in her mid…filly…years? (say equivalent to 12 or 13) and her family is attacked by gryphons, again right in the middle of Lilac giving birth to her second child. Lilac sees it coming because of the curse and her ability to see impending death.
Right before the gryphons come in, she uses her magic to conceal and diminish Daisy’s wings, so she appears as just a regular unicorn.
Raped by the gryphons once more, Lilac dies during childbirth, and enraged, Daisy races after the retreating gryphons, which don’t touch her for some reason, and kill them.
Such starts the rumor of being a necromancer, since death seemed to dance with her.
After the murder, she takes it on herself to leave, though she is badly injured from the fight. At some point she nearly dies, which is when she is found by Bear Claw, who takes her in, and teaches her to fight. She is driven by insane anger, and renames herself Crimsonova Scarlett Rhododendron, after the color of the blood she intends to draw, and the deadly but mistakenly beautiful flower. She becomes a warrior, and of course, sad for her, Bear Claw is murdered by something or another.
And so begins her journey to revenge……
ONE YEAR BEFORE...
Daisy had never seen her mother so scared. Terrified. The whites of Lilac’s eyes were showing, eyes rolling, eyes back as she threw her head around, searching for the invisible threat.
“Where is Pepper?” she repeated, her wing feathers prickling in unease, trying to sound in control for her mother, but her father’s name heavy on her tongue. Where was he? He should be here, soothing his mate, who seemed to have notions that they were about to be attacked.
It wasn’t that she didn’t believe her mother; she was a very powerful alicorn. Most of the time, if she sensed something, Lilac was right. But watching her mother in labor, her cationic spasms, shuddering and trembling on the ground, whinnying in pain as terrible tremors ran down her spine, Daisy couldn’t help but doubt her. It was probably maternal worry about her newborn, jumping at every shadow.
Somewhere outside, an ice storm started.
Daisy could taste the dryness in the air; it pressed against her wing feathers with a sharp nature. The wind brought promise of a good snow, the first of the season, and Daisy made it her duty to make sure the window was latched down tight. From behind her, her mother let out another shrieking whinny, making a light shudder travel up her spine. Where was Pepper?
There was a low moan, and then silence. Alarmed, Daisy turned, the glare of the fire casting dancing shadows along the wall and ground. The flame shadows licked the ground, reaching for Lilac’s struggling form, as if to caress her.
Lilac herself appeared to be choking, eyes bulging, odd gasping wheezes struggling out of her throat. She was as stiff as a board, straight legs flailing uselessly into the air, yellow froth building up at the side of her muzzle. Her eyes were glassy, staring at nothing.
“Lilac?!”
Panicked, Daisy pressed her velvety muzzle to her mother’s damp one, inhaling her scent, searching for the feel of a breath. It tickled nostrils, faint, ragged, and Daisy shoved her muzzle against Lilac harder, nickering in worry. “Lilac!”
Suddenly, there was a low howl, and it took Daisy a long moment to realize it had come from her mother. The white filly squealed in pain as Lilac’s hooves started flailing again, catching her under her wing, making a jagged gash. Daisy retreated, ears laid back in fear as her mother started to struggle again, throwing her head back, screaming in pain. Tremors traveled down her mother’s spine again, to the bulge that was her to-be siblings bulge. If it made it that long.
“No….No…not….Daisy!” Lilac screamed, and Daisy felt numb as her mother’s voice, laced with pain and agony penetrated her right to the core, her inner instincts torn between fight and flight. Her fur stood on end, the room dampening with the scent of blood and birthing fluids, making her stomach roil. “Daisy!”
“Mother!” Daisy found herself crying out, faintly. Surprised her voice worked at all. She could tell her mother was searching for her, neck straining, eyes casting around, and so she shuffle forward again, hooves falling heavy against the ground. Relief swamped through Lilac’s expression as her daughter filled her vision again, and she beckoned her closer with a jerk of her muzzle.
“Daisy…no matter what, they cannot know…” her mother’s voice was hoarse and ragged, breaths tearing through each word like a dagger.
“Who...Lilac what are you talking about?” Daisy asked her fear apparent now, unable to hold herself in control. The small filly felt her shoulders give as she trembled, bending over her mother in worry.
“Please Daisy, please…they mustn’t!”
Her mother was begging now, her mane soaked in sweat that trickled down her neck and muzzle. Bubbly froth built in the corner of Lilac’s mouth, ears twitching around, whinnying in fear. “They’re coming!”
Somewhere outside, it started to blizzard. Shears of ice fell, making the ground treacherous. But it wouldn’t stop the disaster to come.
“Please, Lilac…Mother,” Daisy nickered in worry, “Please…” she wanted an explanation, something that made sense, something to tell her what was happening to her mother. Before her eyes, the gray mare’s eyes closed, and her breath became slower.
Silence. “…Lilac?”
All at once, the room started to hum. The vibrations wracked the entire room, and it got darker as a light grew around her mother, a pale, moving, living aura, building up in intensity, a shrill whine from the power of the force making Daisy lay her ears back in panic, eyes widening. She ducked her head to her chest as the light built, becoming a pure white sheer, the small ball of light emanating such aura it made Daisy weak in the knees.
With a cry, Lilac jerked her head, sending the magic flying at her daughter.
Daisy screamed as the ball of energy hit her, penetrating her, sending her all at once to the ground as her legs collapsed. Fiery hot pain shot through her like liquid fire, and she hardly recognized the shill screams in her ear as her own. All at once, her muscles started to contract, shrinking, the fire grinding into her bones, grinding it into nothingness. The pain spread, seeming to attack her wings, melting her nerves and seemingly every fiber of her being.
How long did the pain last? Daisy didn’t know, but all at once she found herself blinking her eyes open, not remembering blacking out. All she knew was how hard her heart hammered, the throbbing pain. The nakedness against her flank…
The lack of her wings.
Beside her, her mother was unconscious, faintly breathing, ever so often trembling as with a gush of fluids and blood, her new sibling, a foal, slithered into the world, the same time with a dark scream, the windows shattered inward.
